“This album was incredibly difficult to write, and incredibly easy at the same time,” singer Johnny Stevens exclusively tells Revolver. “It’s the most natural-sounding Highly Suspect album ever. Almost everything you’re hearing was done in one take. That being said, sometimes it would take 60 takes to get the take. But with the exception of the occasional overdub most of what you’re hearing is live. More so than we’ve ever done.
“We didn’t want to make an album where we would have to rely on backing tracks in a live setting. We wanted to be a band again. A real one. there are five of us so if we can’t make a wall of sound with that many people we are failing at our jobs. Sick of fake shit.”
He adds: “But if you’re looking for a juicy little factoid nugget, there is one song on the album that was born of an argument. Naturally, with five people stuck in a room with no windows for 12 hours a day, you’re gonna run into times when not everyone’s on the same page. I remember Ryan [Meyer, drums, vocals] was really tired one day — rightfully so, drumming is very physical, and Matt [Kofos, guitar] and I were being dramatic and frustrated that he was too tired to hit the drums in that moment. So we went to the bar for a couple hours and got hammered.
“When we came back we had this super angry riff we started jamming and Ryan had taken a nap and suddenly he was blasting the drums perfectly. They all accused us of doing coke that night.. couldn’t understand how we left and came back with such a fast ass-kicking riff, but it truly wasn’t. Just a couple of drunk kids banging on guitars out of frustration. A song was born.”
As Above, So Below is due out July 19th via Roadrunner/300/Elektra. Shortly after the album’s release, Highly Suspect will play a series of intimate U.S. shows where they’ll perform As Above, So Below in its entirety.
As Above, So Below tracklisting:
01. Summertime Voodoo
02. Suicide Machine
03. The Blue-Eyed Devil
04. Mexico
05. Plastic Boxes
06. Melatonia
07. The Reset
08. Run for Your Death (More Pills)
09. Champagne At Our Funeral
10. The 8th of October (To August 17th)
11. Then, Mickey 2
Highly Suspect 2024 Summertime Voodoo Tour dates:
July 24 – Memphis, TN – Growlers
July 25 – St. Louis, MO – Delmar Hall
July 26 – Chicago, IL – Outset
July 27 – Flint, MI – The Machine Shop
July 29 – Detroit, MI – El Club
August 1 – Asbury Park, NJ – The Stone Pony
August 2 – Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg
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